periodic 'soft' bands in scans with driver 6.2.2r1

[pmiles]

Hi Silverfast folk.
Thanks for all your work maintaining your scanner drivers!

I updated my scanner driver for the Polariod SS120 from Silverfast Ai 6.2.0r7 to 6.2.2r1.
However scans with the new driver have re-developed an old problem of periodic soft banding in the scans at regular intervals 90 deg to the path of film travel. The old 'fix' I used for this problem with 6.2.0r7 doesn't work with 6.2.2r1

This periodic soft banding is a problem that this forum helped me solve by suggesting I switch the interpolation mode from" silverfast standard" to "Anti Aliased".
However when using 6.2.2r1 I get soft banding on BOTH the "Silverfast standard" and ?Anti Aliased " interpolation settings.

I reinstalled 6.2.0r7 and on "antialiased" I get no soft banding at all in the scans.


Regards
Peter Miles

[LSI_Noack]

Dear Peter

thank you very much for this important piece of information.

Could you please upload example images (screenshots in JPEG of your scans showing the error mentioned above)?

I would also like to know whether this happened to you with a Windows or Macintosh version of SilverFast? With the TWAIN- or the Photoshop plug-in?

Can others in this forum please confirm / negate this problem with their respective systems?

TIA and kind regards
Sonny Noack
- tech support -

[sbosman]

Exact same behaviour. v**s**n does the same, incidentaly. ScanWizard does not. So it does look lke a software problem.

[LSI_Noack]

Dear sbosman

as Peter didn't answer yet, could you please upload example images (screenshots in JPEG of your scans showing the error mentioned above)?

I would also like to know whether this happened to you with a Windows or Macintosh version of SilverFast? With the TWAIN- or the Photoshop plug-in?

TIA and kind regards
Sonny Noack
- tech support -

[sbosman]

Please find here 2 jpgs: one with the whole picture scaled down, one with a crop. Both have been sharpened in Photoshop, but the phenomenon is well visible without sharpening.

[cew3jsm]

Hi,
I have also experienced this troubling performance and have commented about it before. It's ashame to see this reappear. If you search on my user name (cew3jsm) you will find the earlier posts on this subject.

My recent tests indicate that the soft banding may be limited to 48 bit scans only, but I can't be sure. Also, scan performance appears to decline sharply when multipass sampling is used - image sharpness decreases and luminance banding becomes visible in smooth gradations of color (i.e., the sky!).

Silverfast, please help sort this out!!

Clay

[sbosman]

It actually never happens to me in the first third of the film carrier, and it always happens in the last third. Again, it is not a mechanical problem, since Scanwizeard scans normally over the whole holder length.

I think it is related to the firware release 1.6, which probably changed a number of things regarding motion control, maybe in order to support the XPAN format scanning. Pure speculation, since Microtek does not say what changed.

Apparently, Microtek did not tell Lasersoft either, which is really bad.

All in all this makes for a frustrating experience and makes me defiant about Microtek in general.

The wort frustration is that I don't really see with what I can replace that scanner:

- Nikon's film holders don't convince me at all
- Minolta's light source is inappropriate for my work (B&W negs) and the glass film holder is only for one fame (duh!)
- Imacon is overpriced and their film holders have problems too
- Creo looks great but I can't afford them

Maybe an Expression 10000 from Epson, but apparently no one has experience scanning film with it, so maybe it is not such a good idea.

And anyway, this Microtek hardware is exactly what I was looking for in the first place. We just have a damn ridiculous software problem! It *should* be fixable, no ?

[cew3jsm]

Hi,
I bought my scanner within weeks of Polariod first offering the SS120 for sale and haven't tried using any of the Microtek firmware updates. I wasn't even sure if the Microtek firmware/software was compatable with the older Polaroid version of this scanner. Consequently, I'm still using Polaroid firmware version 1.3.3. Until Silverfast resolves the soft banding issue, I was also forced to revert to version 6.1.0.7. This version produces tack sharp scans without the banding issue, but unfortunately is plagued with slow image processing.

The last post does prompt two questions, however:
1. Are there any differences between the polaroid version and the microtek version of this scanner (other than branding)?
2. Is the software/firmware interchangable?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Clay

[sbosman]

Apparently the Silverfast support team is either gone fishing for the last 2 weeks or is drowned in the different problems they have with the multitude of scanners they try to support. If this is the case, we can expect them to focus first on the most frequently reported problems, which mean they will serve first the best selling scanners, and neither the SS120 nor the 120tf are in that category, so it looks like the wait is going to be long.

I stopped having problems with my computer the day I bought my PowerBook, most probably the fact that the software and hardware manufacturers are the same helps a lot. Pointing in the same direction is the fact that now the least unusable software for my 120tf is ScanWizard provided by Microtek (SW works, but slow as hell).

I have an exhibition starting in 10 days and another one in 2 months. Luckily everything is scanned and this problem is not in the critical path. If it was, I'd be in deep problems.

After my next trip, I'll take an appointment with Epson, Creo and Imacon and see what they offer, I think. Or I'll learn to live with the Nikon holders.

120tf = great hardware lessened by sloppy software support.

[dstaver]

Like I mentioned on Photo.net the solution here is to scan BW film as RGB and extract one of the channels in Photoshop. Usually the green channel looks best.

I have never had this problem after I started scanning my BW films in this manner. Of course, it would be great if Silverfast supported scanning BW film that way, then I wouldn't have to do it myself.

[LSI_Noack]

Dear SilverFast users

please note that the imaging forum is not intended for supporting purposes.
However, we shall delve into this issue again and try to find a solution for the problem.

Thank you for your valuable comments

Best regards
Sonny Noack
- tech support, LSI AG -

[Nitrofunk]

Just want to add that I have exactly the same Problem on my Microtek 120tf. Any help yet?

-Nitro

[LSI_Noack]

Dear Nitro

neither LaserSoft Imaging AG's testing center staff nor Microtek engineer's could reproduce the phenomenon with the Microtek Artixscan 120tf.

Best regards
Sonny Noack
- Manager Technical Support, LaserSoft Imaging AG -

[Nitrofunk]

Perhaps it has something to do with the Artixscans Carrier mechanism!? It always seemed strange that I had to "force" the carriers into the slot. So could it be possible that the transport mechanism has worn out and causes the banding?

Nitro

[LSI_Belli]

Dear Nitro,

we will investigate this issue again in order to clarify, if possible, when this problem exactly occurs and if both scanners (Microtek and Polaroid) are concerned by this problem.

Best,

Thomas